A Virginia State Trooper was injured Saturday when the patrol car he had pulled over to protect a tow-truck driver operating on the Beltway was struck by an intoxicated driver, police said.

Trooper K.S. Fleenor and the tow-truck driver were both treated at Fairfax Inova Hospital and released, Virginia State Police said..

The incident occurred early Saturday on the Inner Loop near Tyson’s Corner. Fleenor had positioned his car in a northbound travel lane to shield the tow truck driver as he hooked up a vehicle damaged in an earlier crash, police said. They said Fleenor was seated in his car with its lights flashing when it was rear-ended by a 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue, pushing the patrol car into the previously damaged vehicle, which then struck the tow truck.

The driver, Christina Hirt, 30, of Alexandria, refused treatment at the scene and was charged with DUI, police said.

Steve Hendrix came to The Post more than ten years ago from the world of magazine freelancing and has written for just about every page of the paper: Travel, Style, the Magazine, Book World, Foreign, National and, most recently, the Metro section’s Enterprise Team.

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